Deal reached to allow Chinese driver’s licences

Holders of a Chinese driver’s licence will now be able to use it in British Columbia after the Mounties and ICBC reached a deal.

RCMP have been ticketing and towing drivers without valid B.C. driver’s licences and Chinese drivers in Richmond were predominantly affected.

ICBC said the licences were OK, but the RCMP disagreed because if the officer could not read the language on documents handed over by a driver, they could not tell if it was indeed a licence.

But Cpl. Robert McDonald said now drivers will be able to use foreign licences if an accredited translator has translated them.

“We’re asking people to get either an international driver’s licence or get their driver’s licences translated,” McDonald said. “And for students to carry proof they are full-time students in an authorized instution in British Columbia.”

He said drivers who do not have the translated document will still be ticketed or towed.